Rizzo's Casa Di Italia Restaurant — Restaurant in Town of Tonawanda

So, Rizzo's Casa Di Italia used to be a restaurant we looked forward to visiting. A traditional Italian Restaurant with good food and good service, in a comfortable casual setting.

Imagine how pleased we were to see them on the Buffalo Restaurant Week list, with some very appealing offerings. To say it was a "disaster" would be a compliment to what we experienced that night.

I'll start at the beginning. We called to make a reservation, but got to voicemail with a promise to return the call. OK, no problem. BUT, after 2 days, nobody called back. So I called again. Voicemail again. This time, we DID get a callback and were able to make the reservation. It didn't matter though... read on.

We arrived at the reservation time (5 minutes early, actually). There were 2 people waiting ahead of us. BUT NOBODY greeted us (or them)... we just waited in the alcove. OK, they're a little behind. Then, more people arrived... then more... then more. So, there were 15 people crammed into the alcove and, still, NOBODY even greeted us. 10 minutes went by... 15... 20... Still, nobody even acknowledged the crowd in the alcove. One of their older guests, with a cane, was there. WE (the other guests) looked around to find a chair so she could sit. Finally, someone came out to ask people if they had reservations and "how many," etc. No apology or mention that we've been waiting for a long time. AND, then, she disappeared for again for another 10 minutes. What????

I did find humor looking into the dining area. One of the men was assigned to cleaning tables and assisting the servers. He brought water to one of the tables (a table of 6): It took 3 trips to the kitchen... 2 glasses at a time. I was falling over with laughter that nobody suggested a tray that could hold 6 glasses of water. AND, he cleaned the tables the same way. He'd pick-up 2 dishes at a time and off to the kitchen - too funny! I guess they never heard of a "bus box". No wonder there were at least 8 open tables (more than enough to accommodate those of us who were waiting) that needed cleaning, but the process was so bad, it was funny. We were finally seated, after 30+ minutes of waiting.

OK, you probably want to know about the meal, huh? It didn't get any better! When a server finally showed up, after a long wait at the table, she asked which wine we were having (part of the Restaurant Week Special). We ordered the Pinot Grigio. After a few minutes, she returned with 2 highball glasses (NOT wine glasses) with a very short pour of wine (similar to what you might get at a wine tasting tour). AND, it wasn't the brand/type that was advertised on the menu. That brand is one of our favorites and what we got that night wasn't what was on the menu. If you're out of something and substitute, the least you can do is mention it... and if you're out of wine glasses, how about saying something. NOTHING!

Then, we tried to order the rest of our meal. She wouldn't hear of it. Just the appetizers. OK, both of us ordered the Caprese, a favorite we'd had here, several times. It was BAD. The "fresh mozzarella was hard and had little taste. The tomatoes weren't ripe. Disappointing.

Our main courses weren't great, either. They weren't cooked properly and my mashed potatoes had no taste. Neither of us really enjoyed what we were eating... and the portions were VERY small.

OK, let's get our dessert and get out of here. Not so fast. Both of us chose desserts that were advertised, but weren't available. In fact, as it turned out, most of the advertised desserts weren't available. "So, what do you have?" "You can get a cannoli or a 'little cupcake." Talk about "under selling." We ordered one of each. The cupcake was like what you'd get in a package at Tops and the cannoli was, I'm NOT exaggerating, less than 1 1/2 inches long. I wanted to take a photo, but didn't want to make a scene.

We paid our check and left. It was very unsatisfying. We were regular patrons, before, but there are too many good restaurants in WNY, so we won't...

First time going here last night, we made reservations online 2 weeks in advance. We still waited at the door for almost an hour. Thing is no one even acknowledged us for like 45 minutes ,we almost left. Lots of people waiting, some did leave. Finally got to a table and it seemed there were only 2 waitresses for the entire place. Thing is ,there were some empty tables ,they were busy but I wouldn't say it was overly busy. Over another 1/2 hr. wait to even be acknowledged at our table. Our waitress was nice and very apologetic but she seemed very scattered. ,we gave her our order and waited another long 45 minutes for our food. The food was very very good,fresh and piping hot. But unless you dont mind a long long wait with waitresses that can't handle a dinner rush then go here and try the chicken parm is was good! If a business is going to offer daily specials with such good food you would think they'd hire another server...

It was restaurant week and only Thursday at 5PM. I called for a reservation, we waited at the door for at least 10 minutes before we were approached by an employee. We sat down waited at least 15 minutes before someone came by and said they took your order right? We said no, no one has been here at all. They were sold out of a few things. The chicken with spinach risotto was not good, the chicken was not good and the risotto was flavorless and texture was very mushy. There shrimp scampi was not good, very dry and barely any moisture on the pasta. The brisket had no flavor and the polenta was awful. Three of us had dinner and none of us liked our dinner. The service was extraordinarily slow, although a table near us that set down after us had their drinks, apps and food before we even had our drinks???? They definitely knew somebody!!! We were regulars at Rizzo's years ago. Hadn't been there in a while. Would...